lawmakers did get some work done over the weekend, despite failure to solve the fiscal cliff issue. senators approved antitrust attorneys william barrett to head the justice department ate antitrust division. also party leaders agreed on a farm bill extension that would head off a big jump in milk prices. lawmakers still need to vote on that agreement but at this point, at least there is something that they can take a look at. in the meantime, auto industry sales are headed for their best year since 2007. forecasters now say the total sales for 2012 should top 14.5 million cars and trucks. analysts say even more encouraging is the fact that sales increased steadily throughout the year, so that means we're ending things on a good note. also, finishing up a good year the movie industry. hollywood.com estimates 2012 ticket sales came in at a record 10.8 billion dollars. that's 6% higher than last year. and it beats the former record of $10.6 billion set back in 2009. joe? >> okay, beck, thanks. let's get to our next guest. among those working on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, joinin